Central vacuum cleaning unit



April 1960 A. A. CARPENTER ETAL 2,933,152

CENTRAL VACUUM CLEANING UNIT Filed July 18, 1958 mwHl .r :1 na.

INVENTORS flwefiifm pemia iz W ATTORNEYS 2,933,152 CENTRAL VACUUMCLEANING UNIT Arvell A. Carpenter, and James R. Ferguson, Oklahoma City,Okla.

Application July 18, 1958, Serial No. 749,424

3 Claims. (Cl. 183-37) The present invention relates in general tocleaning apparatus, and more particularly to vacuum cleaning apparatusdesigned especially for central built-in cleaning systems.

Portable home vacuum cleaners have been in wide use for many years fordomestic and building cleaning purposes. These portable cleaners asproduced are primarily of two basic types, namely the bag type and thetank type. The bag type conventionally includes a wheel supportedcleaning head or brush having a motor-driven impeller or fanincorporated therein, a handle pivoted to the cleaning head, and acollecting bag removably supported at one end on the handle and coupledat the other end to the exhaust duct of the impeller. The tank typeconventionally employs an elongated horizontal or upright tank adaptedto rest on the floor, having the motordriven impeller and a collectingbag housed within the tank and inlet and exhaust openings. The cleaningheads or cleaning attachments are supported on one end of a tubularhandle and a flexible hose extends from the other end of the handle tothe inlet opening of the tank.

Both of these basic types of portable vacuum cleaners must be moved fromroom to room and the electrical supply cord providing current for themotor-driven impeller must be coupled to and uncoupled from theelectrical convenience outlets in the various rooms as the cleaner is somoved. cleaners, the dust-laden air drawn in through the cleaning headby the impeller is discharged into the same room in which the cleaner isused, after varying amounts of dust and dirt are filtered out by thewalls of the collecting bag. Also, the etfective suction at thecleaninghead produced by the impeller diminishes rapidly during theinitial stages of use of the cleaner, due to the collection of dust anddirt on the walls of the collecting bag in the path of the air beingdrawn through the cleaner and the rapid reduction in the porosity in thewalls of the collecting bag produced by this accumulation of dust anddirt.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a novel vacuumcleaning apparatus for use in association with a ducting systemextending to a plurality of rooms to be cleaned, wherein the vacuumcleaning apparatus may be located remote from the rooms while thecleaning attachments may be removably coupled to outlets of the ductingsystem in the rooms.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a centralvacuum cleaning apparatus for use in built-in domestic cleaning systems,wherein means are provided for separating the dust and direct collectedby the cleaning head out of the suction air stream to minimize reductionof the effective suction at the cleaning head by accumulation of suchdust and dirt.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novelvacuum cleaning central unit for use in built-in domestic vacuumcleaning systems wherein the motor for driving the motor-driven impelleris isolated.

from the air stream through which the dirt and dust In both of thesebasic types of drawn in through the suction head is entrained to protectthe motor against contamination.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novelvacuum cleaning central unit for use in built-in central vacuum cleaningsystems, wherein the components may be readily separated to clean theparts and disposed of collected dirt and dust.

Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing illustrating one preferredembodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a vertical section view of a central vacuum cleaning unitembodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal transverse section view taken along the line 22of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section view of the impellerstructure; and

Figure 4 is a horizontal transverse section view taken along the line4-4 of Figure 1 illustrating the filter in top plan view.

Referring to the drawing, wherein like reference characters designatecorresponding parts throughout the several figures, the central vacuumcleaner unit, indicated generally by the reference character it),normally will be disposed ina shed externally of a house, in a garage orother location wherein the air discharged from the unit 10 may bedissipated to outside air. The unit is housed in a generally cylindricalcasing 11 having an upper section 12 and a lower section 13 which areseparable from each other and are removably secured together in verticalaxial alignment by conventional toggle looks or latches 14. The lowercasing section 13 is in the form ofan upwardly opening receptacledesigned to receive and collect dust and dirt drawn into the unit 14Supported atthe center of the circular bottom 15 of the lower casing,

section 13 is an upright tubular post or pipe having a flange collar 17at the upper end thereof. A stem or shaft 18 telescopically extends intothe tubular post 16 and is provided with an enlarged head 18 at theupper end thereof. The stem 18 removably supports in spaced relationabove the bottom 15 a filter cap 19 which is in the form of a circulardisk which may be, for example, 20 gage steel, having a plurality ofperforations extending throughout its area, for example inch holesspaced 1 inches from center to center, and a filter member 20. Thefilter member 20 is formed of channel-shaped annular inner and outerrings 21, 22 between which extends a packing of aluminum cloth 23sandwiched between upper and lower wire mesh members 24 having about /sinch openings. The inner ring 21 of the filter 20 and the filter cap 19are each provided with a central opening to receive the stem 18 and areadapted to be mounted on the stem 18 and shifted upwardly until theyengage the head 18', and held in this position by a washer 25 and a coilspring 26 surrounding the stem 18 and extending The upper section 12 ofthe casing 11 has a flanged inlet opening 30 and a flanged exhaustopening 31 spaced vertically above the inlet opening 30 extendingthrough the side wall thereof. A transverse partition 32 extendsentirely across the upper casing section 12 and is located verticallybetween the inlet opening 30 and exhaust opening 31. The transversepartition 32 is provided with a large cylindrical opening 33 in thecenter thereof. for housing an impeller assembly generally indicated at34, and depending from the transverse partition 32 is a vacuum stack orcylinder 35 having its upper end fixed to the transverse partition 32and an annular lower 11p 36 carrying a resilient gasket 37 adapted totightly embrace the periphery of the filter cone 27 at the lower limitof the zone of perforations 29 so as to seal the juncture of the stack35 with the filter cone 27 against passage of air, and thus restrict airflow into the vacuum stack 35 to air drawn through the filter 20 andperforations 29.

The impeller assembly 34 includes a plurality of dr ven impeller blades38a, 33b and 38c each fixed to a driven shaft 39 extending through abearing 40 in a transverse wall =41 and depending from an electric motor42 disposed above the transverse wall 41 and fixed to the domeshaped top43 of the casing 1L- The impeller blades each comprise a disk-shapedbase 44 which is perforated at its center to snugly accommodate thedriven shaft 39 and a plurality of depending vanes 45 which extend fromnear the center of the impeller blade to one peripheral edge thereofalong tangents to a circle concentric with the driven shaft 3'9 andhaving a slightly greater radius than the radius of the shaft 39. Theconfiguration of the depending vanes 45 is illustrated in Figure 2.

Cooperating with the impeller blades 38a, 38b and 380 are stationarydiverters 45 and 47 which comprise an upper annular wall 48 fixed at itsouter periphery to the transverse partition 32 and having a centralopening 49 surrounding the driven shaft 39 and spaced therefrom, a lowerannular wall 50 having its outer periphery corresponding to the outerperiphery of the base 44 of the impeller blades 38a, 38b and 380 and ofsmaller diameter than the cylindrical opening 33 in the transversepart1- tion 32, and vertically disposed vanes 51 which extend from thebounding surface of the cylindrical opening 33 inwardly to a pointspaced from the driven shaft 39 along paths corresponding to the pathsof the vanes 45. A bafile 52 which isrcentrally apertured at 53 toprovide an inlet opening for drawing air upwardly into the lowerimpeller 380 from the vacuum stack 35, as indicated by the arrows inFigure 3, is carried on the lower surface of the transverse partition32.

It will be noted that the transverse wall 41 defines the upper limit ofthe space within the casing 11 in which the air drawn by the impellerassembly 34 may flow, and forms the bottom closure for a motorcompartment 54 within which the electric motor is provided with a fan 55disposed above the bearing 40 in the wall 4110 effect ventilation of themotor 42, the air which is drawn through the opening 56 in the top ofthe casing 43 beingcirculated in isolated relation to the air below thewall 41 and discharged from the casing 11 through the annular series ofventilating openings 57 formed in the side wall of the upper casingsection 12 immediately above the transverse wall 41. I

In initially assembling the central cleaning unit 10, assuming the uppercasing section 12 to be removed from the lower casing section 13 and theparts dissembled, the filter cap 19, filter 20, washer 25 and coilspring 26 will be assembled in that order onto the stem 18 and the stem18 inserted into the bore of the tubular post 16. The filter cone 27will then be fitted over the periphery of thefilter 20, and the uppercasing section 12 lowered into position over the lower section 13. Uponthe lowering of the upper casing section 12 onto the section 13, thegasket lined lip 36 of the vacuum stack 35 will engage the surface ofthe filter cone 27 in approximately the position illustrated in Figure 1and form a sealing contact therewith. The latter stages of movement ofthe upper casing section 12 into locked relation with the lower section13 may result in some compression of the spring 26 as the lip 36 of thevacuum stack 35 forces the filtercone 27 downwardly to a slight degree.The toggle locks or latches 14 will then be adjusted to latched,

position and a flexible conduit connecting with the builtin conduitsystem in the home or building will be secured to the flanged inletopening 30, and a flexible exhaust conduit will be secured to theexhaust opening 31 to discharge the exhaust air to some desired outsidelocation. It will be understood that the built-in conduit sys' tem inthe home or building consists of a series of conduits extending from awall near the location of the central cleaning unit 10 to the variousrooms of the building and suitable convenience outlets will be providedin a wall of each of the rooms to provide a separable sealing connectionwith a flexible hose to the other end of which conventional cleaningattachments may be.

connected.

Upon energization of the electric motor 42, the impeller blades 38a, 3%and 31% will be driven through the shaft 39 to draw air into the casingthrough the inlet opening 39, as indicated by the arrows 58, thencedownwardly into the lower casing section 13 about the liplfi of thefilter cone 27 and the periphery of the filter 2 0 and upwardly throughthe filter 20, as indicated by the arrow 59. Upon passage through thefilter 20, the air is drawn through the perforations 29 near the apexofthe V filter cap 27 and through the vertical vacuum stack 35,

as indicated by the arrows 60, into the opening 53 in the battle 52 atthe transverse partition 32, as indicated by the arrows 61. The air isforced outwardly along the vanes 45 of the lowermost impeller blade 38c,thence up-, wardly about the outer peripheries of the lowermost i111peller blade base 44 and lower diverter wall 50, thence,

inwardly along the diverter vanes 51 and upwardly through the opening 49defined between the inner edge, of the upper diverter wall 48 and thesurface of the driven shaft 39 and outwardly again in a similar cyclethrough the next impeller blade 38b. This radially outwardly and theninwardly cycling of the air is repeated through the next stationarydiverter 46 and the uppermost impeller blade 38a and the air isdischarged into the space between the upper surface of the transversepartitionIIiZ and the transverse wall 41 from which it is exhaustedthrough the exhaust opening 31. A great portion of the dust and dirtwhich is entrained in the air drawn in through the inlet opening 30falls under the force of gravity into the lower portion of the lowercasing secair stream to minimize the building up of a layer of such dustand dirt particles across the duct through which 7 the air is drawnwhich would appreciably reduce the sue-- tion generated by the impellers34 as operation con tinues.

Also, due to the presence of the transverse wall 41 isolating the motorcompartment 54 from the chambers, within the casing 1 1 through whichthe vacuum stream flows, clean air from externally of the casing 11 maybe drawn in through the opening 56 in the dome-shaped top 43 and aboutthe motor 42 by the fan 55 and discharged through the openings 57, andthe motor will beprotected against any contamination by residual dust inthe air" discharged by the impellers 38a, 38b and 38c.

As a practical matter, a 1% horsepower single' phase" A.C. motor runningat about 15,000 r.p.m. may be prace tically employed in this unit andwill provide about four toseven times the suction available inconventional domestic V vacuum cleaner units. Thus, not only is amuch-greatercleaning suction made available by this system, butthesuction which is produced is not rapidly diminished, as it is inconventional vacuum cleaners bythe production of a baflie of rapidlydiminishing porosity across the air stream due to the accumulation ofdust and dirt particles.- While only one preferred embodiment of theinvention :7

has been particularly shown and described, it is apparent that othermodifications may be made in the invention without departing from thespirit and scope thereof, and it is desired, therefore, that only suchlimitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art andare set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Suction cleaning apparatus comprising a vertically elongatedcylindrical casing including a separable upwardly opening drum-shapedlower section having a horizontal bottom wall forming a dirt collectingreceptacle, vertically spaced inlet and exhaust openings in said casingabove said lower section, partition means extending across said casingintermediate said inlet and exhaust openings defining an upper dischargechamber and a lower inlet chamber communicating with said inlet andexhaust openings respectively, rotatable impeller means incorporated insaid partition means, an air pervious filter member, means extendingupwardly from the bottom wall of said lower section for supporting saidfilter member in a horizontal position with a surface of said filterincident to air flow facing downwardly, a conically shaped memberremovably supported on said filter member having a portion adapted toremovably frictionally embrace the periphery of said filter member andan upwardly pointed apex above said filer member, said conically shapedmember having a perforated zone immediately adjacent said apex, acylindrical duct depending from said partition means into sealingengagement with the surface of said conically shaped member immediatelybelow the perforated zone thereof, said cylindrical duct and saidconically shaped member dividing the interior of said easing into aninner uptake stack extending from the uppermost surface of said filtermember through the interior of said conically shaped member and saidcylindrical duct and communicating with said impeller means and an outerannular downtake chamber, whereby air is drawn by said impeller meansinwardly through said inlet opening and downwardly through said downtakechamher about the periphery of said filter member and thence upwardlythrough said filter member and said uptake chamber to cause gravitydischarge of heavy dirt and dust particles from the dust-laden airwithin said lower section to fall onto said bottom wall and collect insaid removable lower section.

2. Suction cleaning apparatus comprising a vertically elongatedcylindrical casing having separable upper and lower sections, said lowersection comprising an upwardly opening drum-shaped receptacle having abottom wall and forming a separation chamber, said upper section havingan upper motor compartment and a lower compartment, said lowercompartment having vertically spaced inlet and exhaust openings,partition means extending across said lower compartment intermediatesaid inlet and exhaust openings and having an opening therein, rotatableimpeller means in said opening of said partition means for drawing airinwardly through said inlet opening and discharging air through saidexhaust opening, a cylindrical air filter member, means extendingupwardly from the bottom wall of said receptacle supporting saidcylindrical filter member in vertically spaced parallelism with saidbottom wall, a. conical member having a lower lip adapted to removablyfrictionally embrace the periphery of said filter member, an upwardlypointed apex spaced vertically above said filter member, and aperforated zone immediately adjacent said apex, a cylindrical ductdepending from said partition means into sealing engagement with thesurface of said conicalmember immediately below the perforated zonethereof to separate the interior of said casing into an inner uptakestack extending from the uppermost surface of said filter member throughthe interior of said conical member and the perforations thereof andcommunicating with said impeller means and an outer annular downtakechamber between the walls of said duct and said casing to direct airflow from said inlet opening downwardly about the periphery of saidfilter member and said conical member and into said separation chamberand then upwardly through said filter member and said uptake stack andeiiect gravity separation of heavier dust and dirt from the dirt-ladenair, said upper compartment of said casing having a motor therein fordriving said impeller means, second partition means spaced verticallyabove said first mentioned partition and below said motor to separatesaid motor compartment from said lower compartment and isolate the motorfrom air currents produced by said impeller means.

3. Suction cleaning apparatus comprising a vertically elongatedcylindrical casing including a separable upwardly opening drum-shapedlower section having a horizontal bottom wall forming a dirt collectingreceptacle, vertically spaced inlet and exhaust openings in said casingabove said lower section, partition means extending across said casingintermediate said inlet and exhaust openings defining an upper dischargechamber and a lower inlet chamber communicating with said inlet andexhaust openings respectively, rotatable impeller means incorporated insaid partition means, an air pervious filter member, a tubular postextending upwardly from the bottom wall of said lower section, a spindleextending entrally htrough said filter member and depending below thesame into sliding elescope relation with said post to removably supportsaid filter member in a horizontal position with a surface of saidfilter incident to air fiow facing downwardly, a conical memberremovably supported on said filter member having a portion adapted toremovably irictionally embrace the periphery of said filter member andan upwardly pointed apex above said filter member, said conical memberhaving a perforated zone immediately adjacent said apex, a cylindricalduct depending from said partition means having an annular lower lip, acoil spring surrounding said spindle and bearing at opposite endsagainst said post and said filter member to resiliently urge said comcal member carried by said filter member into sealing contact with saidlower lip below said perforated zone, said cylindrical duct and saidconical member dividing the interior of said casing into an inner uptakestack extending from the uppermost surface of said filter member throughthe interior of said conical member and said cylindrical duct andcommunicating with said impeller means and an outer annular downtak-echamber for directing air drawn by said impeller means inwardly throughsaid inlet opening and downwardly through said downtake chamber aboutthe periphery of said filter member and thence upwardly through saidfilter member and said uptake chamber to cause gravity discharge ofheavy dirt and dust particles from the dust-laden air within said lowersection to fall onto said bottom wall and collect in said removablelower section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,021,298 Forsberg Nov. 19, 1935 2,143,144 Fagerberg Jan. 10, 19392,397,980 Petri Apr. 9, 1946 2,719,596 Kent Oct. 4, 1955

